Danish Centre for Arts and Interculture, Denmark

The Danish Centre for Arts & Interculture (DCAI) is a national knowledge centre, which collects and disseminates know-how, experience,

research, competency and best practice concerning aspects of interculture and cultural diversity within the arts scene. The centre works with the development of intercultural competences and awareness in mainstream arts institutions and organisations and municipality departments of culture, both within the mainstream and on the periphery of the arts scene – on a national level and in regard to the exchange of intercultural experience and research at an international level.

DCAI has a long history of working with the themes of Inclusion, Participation and Advocacy of and for new audiences in mainstream arts and culture in Denmark. For many years the centre operated the first national initiative in this field to work professionally to promote cultural diversity as an essential building block for developing new audiences in arts and culture.

What is Museum Mediation? See our videos

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«Museums have the responsibility to deconstruct their historically situated assumptions, missions, metaphors, conventions and practices [...] however museums are still caught into different dichotomised narratives that are presented as objective “truths”. To name a few, I am referring to the tyranny of chronology (Pollock, 2002), the romantic discourse of the artists as a genius, the current thematic approach in exhibition design or the notion of heritage as a commodity. I am also referring to the culture wars between directors, curators, educators, administrators, evaluators and visitors. And here is when we could ask:

Why can’t museums include multiple perspectives in their research processes, exhibition or educational policies and practices? Why can’t they treat visitors as equal voices?»